July 17, 2008
Texas

Texas approves massive new wind power project

Texas is moving forward on the nation’s largest wind-power project, a plan to build billions of dollars worth of new transmission lines to bring wind energy from gusty West Texas to urban areas.

Texas is already the national leader in wind power, and supporters say Thursday’s preliminary approval by the Public Utility Commission, will make the Lone Star State a leader in being able to move all that energy to the urban areas that need it.

“We will add more wind than the 14 states following Texas combined,” said PUC Commissioner Paul Hudson. “I think that’s a very extraordinary achievement. Some think we haven’t gone far enough, some think we’ve pushed too far.”

Environmentalist and consumer groups called the move a critical expansion of the “renewable energy superhighway,” predicting it will spur wind energy projects, create jobs, reduce energy costs and reduce pollution.

Texas electric customers will bear the cost of the $4.9 billion plan over the next several years, paying about $4 more per month on their electric bills.

State officials, however, say those increases could be several years away, and the payments would be no different than the current system of paying for new transmission lines from power plants.

The 2-1 vote by the PUC, however, didn’t commit to as big of a project as some environmental groups and state lawmakers had wanted. The chosen plan would transmit a little more than half the energy some advocated.

Texas already generates the about 5,000 megawatts of wind power, tops in the nation. The new plan would add transmission lines to boost capacity to about 18,000 megawatts.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas says one megawatt of power provides enough electricity for 500-700 average homes under normal conditions in Texas, or about 200 homes during hot weather.

“The capacity for wind generation in west and north Texas is so great that we could position ourselves in Texas to be the world leader in wind and renewable energy in the next 100 years, just as we were the world leader in oil and gas for the past 100 years,” Democratic state Rep. Mark Strama said earlier this week.

By Jim Vertuno
Associated Press Writer

chron.com

17 July 2008


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2008/07/17/texas-approves-massive-new-wind-power-project/